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From: tan@ihlpg.UUCP (Bill Tanenbaum)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,net.med
Subject: Re: Drug Abuse - True Problem or Media Hype?
Message-ID: <2539@ihlpg.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Oct-86 02:33:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihlpg.2539
Posted: Wed Oct  8 02:33:52 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Oct-86 05:29:08 EDT
References: <720@scc.UUCP> <20756@rochester.ARPA> <463@epimass.UUCP> <2519@ihlpg.UUCP> <21340@rochester.ARPA>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
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Xref: watmath talk.politics.misc:580 net.med:5104

> In article <2519@ihlpg.UUCP>, tan@ihlpg.UUCP (Bill Tanenbaum) writes:
> > There may be some drugs which, by their
> > very nature, make it impossible for the heavy user to hold a job,
                          ^^^^^^^^ 
> > but heroin and cocaine are not among them. 
-----
> Heroin and cocaine are among them, especially in heavy cocaine use causing
> impaired mental capacities.
> ray [frank]
--
Oh, come on, Ray.  No doubt some percentage of heavy heroin and
cocaine users cannot hold jobs, but many do.  Ray, you are saying
that NO heavy users hold jobs.  Ha. Ha.
	I'm sure that, given your sense of values, you are not a
heavy cocaine user.  Your impairment must come from something else.
	I don't know why I got involved in this debate, anyway,
since I am not even sure which side I am on.  The benefits of
the decriminalization of drug use are obvious to anybody who
has given the matter any thought - an enormous reduction in
violent crime and official corruption, and some sort of quality
control on the product.  The costs of decriminalization are
simply that when drugs are cheap and legal (i.e. alcohol and
tobacco), more people will tend to use them.  I'm aware that
the heavy use of alcohol and tobacco is historically ingrained
and not merely a result of their legality.  However, the social
costs of having still more drugs so deeply ingrained would be
enormous.  I don't give the "replacement" argument much credence.
Marijuana will not replace alcohol.  In general, people who use
drug X are more likely to use drug Y than those who do not use
drug X, for almost any X and Y.
	I think that the fact that the legal drugs are
so much more costly to society than the illegal ones is a strong
argument for keeping most illegal drugs illegal.  The only fear
that I have about this is that in the periodic bouts of anti-drug
hysteria (such as the present one) we will lose permanently
some of our precious freedoms.  I would rather have drugs sold
openly in candy stores than have that happen.
-- 
Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL  ihnp4!ihlpg!tan